it's like the eye of a duck

I went out to historic fencing practice today, for the first time since.... April (?)

And... I felt genuinely guilty about ditching my Sunday morning foil practice. Not just because my foil game is getting [gasp!] good and I didn't want to interrupt my "roll", but because I sometimes feel like I ought to keep my fascination with WMA a secret - I've found that many fencers lurve their chosen weapon/discipline to the exclusion of all else and can get a bit judgmental about other systems.

Which is a damn shame because there are a lot of commonalities - effective use of time and distance are required across weapons systems. Because one of the historic weapons I fence, smallsword, is an ancestor of modern foil there's even a bit of cautious cross-pollination.

Which means my smallsword isn't bad. My rapier is quite poor though (rapier is just too heavy/slow for feints/teasing - I have it or don't, no playing around). Saber is as ever fun (with curved, period correct blades, whoo!) but rusty.

At the end of it all, I'm a history nerd and I love swordplay, so my occasional visit is a logical progression. Though WMA is a great day out with friends, foil remains my steady :)

In other weekend news: annual veterinary checkup Saturday morning went as well as could be expected, considering one cat wets her carrier and sticks to the inside, and the other fights any and everyone in a white coat (she almost escaped them this time). Both need to go on a diet, and we're going to introduce this slowly - as the food gets eaten, it's going to be replaced by less and they'll be fed separately so we'll know how much they're eating (hints on how to do this invited). Amusing anecdotes forthcoming.

And lamentably, my car is making a weird noise - growling/snoring when accelerating and a feeling of something "loose" at the rear right when I go over bumps. Did a little reading up and I suspect it's the muffler/exhaust system, and while the car drives ok I figure I'd better do something sooner rather than later so I'm going to try to get into the shop this week. Depending on what it turns out to be it might or might not put a real crimp in my weekly goings and doings.

First go/do of week is a Networking Opportunity(TM) after work tomorrow. I hate networking because I'm not good at it, and doubly dislike that it's downtown after work, necessitating a suffocating metro trip after 8 hours being "on". Still, it's good practice for me and I might learn something.

Where did the time go?

Working. As best as my slow computer will go, but working.

LJ Firefly fic bides the time when I'm waiting for something to load/unload. Tremendously funny and sweet/sexy.

Deeply tired.